Furnace retort



'c. H. SMITH AND E. B. EDWARDS.

FURNACE RETORT.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 10, 1919.

DAD TA 1 D 3., Patented May 23, 11922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

A TTOR/VEYS C. H. SMITH AND E. B. EDWARDS.

FURNACE RETORT.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE I0, m9.

1% 1 1 3 Patented May 23, 1922;.

3 SHEETS SHEET 2.

25 26 y It.

IILIN NININ wmw C. H. SMITH AND E. B. EDWARDS.

FURNACE RETORT.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE I0. 1919.

1AM; 1 1 3.. Patented May 23, 1922. v 3 SHEET$SHEET 34 Q 7 f an l Q M {q a;

CHARLES HOWARD SMITH, 015 SHORT HILLS, AND EDWARD B. EDWARDS, 015 EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNORS TO INTERNATIONAL COAL PRODUCTS CORPO- RATION, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, A CORPORATION OF VIRGINIAr summon nnronr.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES H. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, and EDWARD B. EDWARDS, a subject'of the King of England, (who has forsworn'his allegiance to said country and has taken oath declaring his intention ofbecoming a citizen of the United States,) and residents, respectively, of Short Hills, county of Essex, State of New Jersey, and East Orange, county of 1t will be seen that there is shown therein Essex, State of New Jersey, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Furnace Retorts, of which the following is tor through which during. the previous interval the products of combustion passed outwardly.

A construction wherein the invention is realized is shown in the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which drawings+ Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of a furnace-retort having a re enerator.

This figure is a View taken as on t e broken line 1-1 of Figure 2 looking in the direction of the arrows. In this figure there are also shown burners having pipes through which fuel, as gas, is supplied to the combustion chamber or combustion spaces of the furnace.

,Figure 2 isa vertical transverse sectional view taken as on the plane indicated by the line 2 2=or Figure 1 lookingin the direction of the arrows.

hating the manner in which the air. for supporting combustion, and which air is pre-- Figure. 3 is a view diagrammatically illusheated by-a regenerator portion, passes from fuelto the chamber or spaces the regenerator portion to the burner of the combustion chamber or combustion spaces -or in other words to the burners supplying also diagrammatically illustrates the manner in which the products of combustion This figure D the combustion chamber 12" may be con- Specification of Letters Patent. Paten'fl ngdl 23,TH022,

1919. Serial no. 303,222.

pass from the combustion chamber or combustion spaces to another portion of the regenerator. It also clearly indicates the manner in which the operations can be reversed whereby at one interval the products of combustion pass outwardly through a particular portion of the retort and whereby at the succeeding interval the air passes inwardly through the same portion.

Referring now to the drawings in detail a combined furnace and retort frequently referred to as a furnace-retort; there is also shown below the retort and furnace proper a regenerator in association therewith. The retort proper is designated by 1 and has a longitudinally extending tubular inner wall; or retort shell 2 closed at each end thereof by suitable heads, designated 3 and 4. The head '8 is located at what is known as the charging end of the retort and coal or other carbonaceous material is fed into the retort by feeding or charging means, as 5, which in the form shown is indicated as having a a hopper 6 and screw-feed 7. Within the retort there are located parallel shafts 8 carry'-' ing paddles 9 thereupon, which shafts and paddles constitute means for mixing or agitating the material within the retort and for conveying it from the charging end of the retorttoward the discharging end thereof.

The retort is exteriorly heated and the gases and vapors driven olf during the heating are conducted from the interiorof the retort by means of piping 10. Suitable means, as 11,- is provided whereby the material can be periodically discharged from the retort without permitting the entrance of any substantial amount of air thereinto.

The construction of the retort is such that.

it' is. practically air-tight whereby no substantial amount of air enters the retort when being operated and whereby practically no gases leave or escape from the retort, except through piping 10. The furnace portion of the furnace-retort is constructed so asto provide a combustion chamber 12 which includes the combustion chamber 13 at the right hand side or longitudinal half of the furnace and the combustion chamber 14': at theleft hand side or longitudinal half of the furnace (see Fig.2). In other .words,

sidered to be divided by two vertically and.

rot

longitudinally extending partitions 15 and 16 into the smaller right and left hand combustion chambers 13 and 14:. The structure at the right hand side or longitudinal half of the furnace is the same as the structure at the left hand side or longitudinal half of the furnace and hence a description of one portion will suflice. The combustion chamber 13 is divided by vertically and transversely extending partitions 17 into-two sets of combustion spaces, the combustion. spaces of one set being-designated by 18 and the combustion spaces of the other set by 19. Each combustion space (18 or 19 as the case may be) is located both below and at the outside of the retort or retort shell. A

horizontally, transversely and longitudinally extending partition 20 caps the vertically and transversely extending partitions 17 and the uppermost exteriorportion of the retort shell and there is left a space above the partition 20. This space above the partition 20 is infact a longitudinal flue (at the right or left hand side of the furnace as the case may be) above the combustion spaces and the retort itself. The partition 20 is provided with openings 21 each of which opencombustion ings is controlled by a damper 22, there being an opening corresponding to each of the combustionspaces, 1'8, 19, whereby the aces of one set can be in communication w th the combustion spaces of the other set through the longitudinal flue above the combustion spaces. 1

A piping 23 5 provided which includes a three-way valve 24 and two main branch pipes 25 and 26. This three-way valve 24 is constructed so that it can cut off the supply to both of the branch pipes 25, 26, or so that it can supply one or the other of the branch pipes but so that it cannot sup ply both at the same time. Small branch pipes 27, each having a valve 27, lead from the main branch pipe 25 to the combustion spaces 18, while other branch pipes 28, each having a valve 28, lead from the main branch pipe 26 to the combustion spaces 19 whereby, dependent upon which of the main branch pipes is open, fuel is supplied to the interior of the set of combustion spaces 18 or 19. In the masonry of each side or longitudinal half of the furnace there are provided two longitudinally extending main flues, designated as 29 and 30 respectively;

The masonry of each side or longitudinal half of the furnace is also provided with two regenerator portions 31 and-32. Re-

- generator portion 31 is in communication with main flue 29 :by means of passageway 33 and the'regenerator portion 32 is in communication with the main flue 30 by means of the passageway 34, which passageways 33 and 34; may each be considered as extending between one of the longitudinally extending main flues on the one hand and 'its cor- -Each of the regenerator portions has an inlet 39 which can be open or closed, or, in other words, controlled by a damper or valve 40, and each of the regenerator portions also has an outlet 41 controlled by a damper or valve 42 each of the outlets leads to a Waste heat flue 13 for conducting waste gases to a stack 44:.

The operating of the heating system in the furnace-retort may be conducted as follows: Y

With the air inlet open and the outlet closed of regenerator portion 31 and with the air inlet closed and the outlet open of regenerator'portion 32, it will be observed that air enters the regenerator portion 31- which may be arbitrarily referred to as regenerator portion A-passes therethrough, then through passageway 33 into the longitudinally extending main flue 29; thence flow's through the damper controlled passageways 35 into half of the combustion spaces which are arranged along and on the exterior of the retort, -to wit, the set of combustion spaces 18, wherein combustion takes place due to the igniting of the fuel which is supplied to said spaces when air said longitudinal flue into and through the 1 other half of the combustion spaces, to wit, the combustion spaces19 constituting the other set, and this set of spaces may be arbitrarily referred to as combustion spaces B.

The terming of the set of combustion spaces 18 and of the set of combustion spaces 19 as combustion spacesA and combustion spaces B is justifiable because the combustion spaces may be considered as a whole to constitute or include a number of smaller combustion spaces. These combustion spaces A and B may in a still broader sense be considered to constitute a part of a combustion chamber.

From the combustion spaces 19combustion space or spaces B-the products of combustion flow through the damper controlled passageways 36 to the longitudinally extending main flue, to Wit, main flue 30, thence through passageway 35 int'o and through the regenerator portion 32, which portion may be arbitrarily designated as the regenerator portion B, and finally therefrom through the damper controlled outlet 41 to the waste heat flue 4:3. 1

It will'here be remarked that with equal propriety the regenerator portion 32 could have been referred to as regenerator A, that I the set of combustion spaces 19 could. have been referred to as combustion spaces A, that the set of combustion spaces 18 could have been referred to as combustion spaces B and that the regenerator portion 31 could have been referred to as regenerator B. These nomenclatures have been adopted to facilitate the following of the operation and particularly in connectionwith some of the claims, it being understood that this designation is not to be construed in a limiting sense but merely to indicate or facilitate the following of the steps recited.

The steps above described in detail are carried out at one interval in one series through the regenerator and furnace and in a succeeding interval in a 'reverse series through the egenerator and furnace, this being done b closing the air inlet 39 of regenerator 31 or regenerator A, by opening the outlet 41 of the same regenerator portion,

by closing the outlet 41 of regenerator portion 32 or regenerator B, and by opening the inlet of said regenerator portion; also by changing the fuel supply; or, in other words, the fuel supply is cut off from branch pipe '25 and is allowed or caused to pass tomain branch pipe 26 and therefrom into the set of combustion spaces 19set 1B." When this condition existsthe incoming air passes into and through regenerator portion B, thence intocombustion spaces of set B wherein combustion takes place; the products of combustion then pass into-"the combustion spaces of set A, therefrom into and through regenerator portion A, finally leaving the open outlet to regenerator portion A leadin to the waste heat'flue 43.

It will lso be noted that the construction is such that the cycle of operation herein described 'can be successively and repeatedly carried out.

The invention is not limited to the specific construction and arrangement shown and described, as it may be embodied in various forms and modificationswithout departing from the spirit and scope/thereof.

What is claimed-is:

1. A furnace-retort construction having a longitudinally extending retort shell, combustion spaces exteriorly arranged along and on opposite sides of the longitudinally extending retort shell, each of which combustion spaces is located both below and at a side of the retort shell, burners for supplying fuel to the interior of the combustion spaces in a manner whereby alternate combustion spaces along each longitudinal half of the retort will receive fuel at a time when the other combustion spaces are serving as ,r flues through which the products of combustion can pass on their Way from the combustion spaces to which the fuel is being supplied, a longitudinally extending flue above the retorts itself and the combustion spaces at the side of the retort, each combustion space being in communication with the said longitudinally extending flue above it, main flues, a passageway extending between each of the combustion spaces and a main flue corresponding to the combustion space, and a re generator, the construction being such that at one interval. combustion is taking place in one half of the combustion spaces being supported by air flowing inwardly through one spaces and the gther portion corresponding,

to the other set of said combustion spaces,

the furnace-retort construction being such that the combustion spaces each extend both below and at a side of thefurnace'retort and so that at each side of the furnace-retort there is a longitudinally extending flue above the combustion spaces and the retorts itself, the furnace-retort construction also being such that there is provided a main flue,

or flues, corresponding to one set of the combustion spaces and one of the regenerator portions, andian'other flue, or flues, corresponding to the other set of combustion spaces and the other regenerator portion, the furnace also having burners, a set for and corresponding to each set of combustion spaces and the corresponding regenerator portion, there being a burner for each combustion space and a passageway extending between each combustion space two sets of gas and its corresponding main flue, there also being a passageway between each regenerator portion and main flue corresponding thereto. 3

3. A furnace-retort construction having. a longitudinally extending retort shell, two sets of combustion spaces on the exterior of the retort shell, piping for supplying fuel at one interval to the interior of one of said combustion spaces and for supplying fuel at a subsequent interval to the other of said combustion spaces, a regenerator having two portions, two passageways one corresponding to one of the combustion spaces and extending between one of the regenerator portions and the combustion space corresponding thereto, the other corresponding to the other combustion space and extending between it and the other regenerator portion which corresponds thereto, the combustion spaces each being located both below and at the sides of the retort shell, the furnaceretort construction also providing a longitudinal flue above the two sets of combustion spaces and the retort shell.

4. A furnace-retort having a longitudinally extending retort shell and two sets of combustion spaces located both below and at the sides of the retort shell, and burners for supplying fuel to the interior of the combustion spaces so that one set of combustion spaces receives fuel while the other set serves as flues through which products of combustion pass on their Way from the set of combustion spaces receiving fuel, the furnaceretort being constructed so that there is provided a longitudinal flue above the combustion spaces and the retort shell, each combustion space being in communication with r said last mentioned flue, the furnace-retort also having two main flues, passageways extending between the lower portion of one set of the combustion spaces and one of the main flues, and passageways extending between the lower portion of the other set and the other main fiue, air at one interval passing from one of the main flues through the corresponding passageway to one set of the combustion spaces, wherein combustion takes place, and from which set the products of combustion pass into the longitudinal flue above the combustion spaces then from said last mentioned flue into the other set, thence through the passageways leading therefrom to the other main flue.

5. A furnace retort having a longitudinally extending retort shell and two sets of combustion spaces which are located both below and at the sides of the retort, burners for supplying fuel to the interior of the combustion spaces and longitudinal flues above the combustion spaces and the retort itself, each of which combustion spaces is in communication with the longitudinal flue above it. V

This specification signed the 23rd day of May, 1919.

CHARLES HOWARD SMITH. EDWARD B. EDWARDS. 

